Many current automobiles include a front wheel drive (FWD) system in which a transmission or transaxle operatively connects front drive wheels to an engine. Vehicle architectures more frequently utilize (FWD) transmissions to improve fuel economy. Unfortunately, FWD vehicles lack an off-road capability desired by many consumers. Manufacturers can add off road capability to FWD based vehicles by adding a power transfer unit (PTU) to send speed and torque to a rear drive unit (RDU). The RDU distributes the speed and torque to rear drive wheels thereby creating an FWD based all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicle.
Additionally, manufacturers can add off road capability to rear wheel drive (RWD) vehicles by adding a transfer case to distribute speed and torque to independent front and rear axles, thereby creating a RWD based AWD or RWD based four wheel drive (4WD) vehicle. The independent front and rear axles each contain a corresponding front and rear differential. A locking mechanism can be added to either or both of the front and rear differentials to further enhance off-road performance beyond that provided by 4WD and AWD. Enhanced off-road capability may be established by locking both differentials. The RDU in a FWD based AWD vehicle contains a differential that may be similarly locked. However, the front differential is contained within a transaxle where there exists little room to package a locking mechanism. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide FWD based vehicles with the enhanced off-road capability of a 4WD and/or AWD based vehicle in order to meet consumer demands in an ever expanding off-road market.